This blog by Spencer Jardine endeavors to focus on information-literacy topics. Please share your own comments on needing, finding, evaluating, and using information. Thank you for visiting my site. If you have any ideas on future blog posts, let me know.

Friday, January 22, 2010

Jing offers free downloadable software that enables you to create audio tutorials, simple screen shots, and then share them freely with others. It seems that reference librarians could easily create an audio tutorial while serving a patron on the phone or via chat reference. By creating a free account with Screencast.com, you can have 2 GB of storage space for your screen shots and screen casts.

Look at the table showing the difference between the free Jing and the Jing Pro version.

Creators of this software have made it relatively easy to share your screen casts with email messages, web code to embed it into a web site or blog, and a stable URL however you wish to share it. Naturally, Jing created a video introducing their product, which I do recommend.

For library instruction, this could really be beneficial. Quick audio tutorials can be created and shared in the ways just mentioned, leaving more time to focus on information-literacy standards. The URLs can be distributed on handouts, to instructors, on Libguides, etc. (Recently, I took the time to learn about Google Sites, which is how I may begin creating my own Libguides, since my institution cannot afford the real Libguides.) With a good pair of headphones that include a microphone, an audio tutorial can be creating lickety-split.

Some might consider the limitation of 5 minutes to be detrimental, but it seems that many students do not appreciate lengthy demonstrations. Most are of the following mindset: "Get in, get done, get out." Of course, if any humor can be inserted, all the better.

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

CQ Researcher continues to create great reports that can facilitate student research. These reports provide basic background on their topics, which are usually of current interest. The bibliographies point to other sources the students can cite, and the Pro/Con section can point to different viewpoints from respected experts.

The following are some titles of CQ Researcher reports that might be of interest to students who need to decide on a topic for a term paper, project, or speech. If you are a college student or instructor, check your libraries listing of databases. At ISU, CQ Researcher can be found in the alphabetical listing of databases in the C's.

Friday, January 8, 2010

Children• Raising children in affluent America• Child geniuses: how smart are they?• Breast feeding vs. the bottle• How to instill in children a respect for the natural world• Shy children: causes, concerns, and corrections• Disciplining children• Pros & cons of marriage without children

Substantiate or refute: America recovers from recessions by waging war

Objections to legalized gambling

The case for a stronger United Nations

Crime & Criminal Justice

Police training standards

Police weaponry

Mental illness among law enforcement officers and national surveys

Should prison be abolished?

Women behind the badge

Child molesters: detection, prevention, and punishment

The correlation between education levels and crime

Health

Preventive measures for common running injuries

New ways to manage stress

Problems of health care in rural areas

Permanent effects of methamphetamines

Exercise and pregnancy

Prevalence of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) in the United States vs. other countries or Idaho

How the United States controls epidemics

Family Life• Changes in the American family since the 1950s• Sex-role changes in the American family• Complex problems single parents face• Teenage suicide and families• How children view divorce• Why sibling rivalry develops and how to cure it• Dealing with Alzheimer’s in the family

Essay Ideas

Books that changed my life

How to teach children manners

How to flirt

Advantages of honesty

Why get married nowadays

A little learning is a dangerous thing

Absence makes the heart grow stronger

Life’s most painful lesson(s)

The very best way to make fool of yourself

All’s fair in love and war

Worst experience I ever had

The ‘good old days’ weren’t so great

Information overload

The Future

Refute or substantiate: “By 2050 the world will consist of two cultures—the permanently rich and the permanently poor

Potential energy sources

What will be the effects of worldwide overpopulation on the environment?

Can acts of international terrorism be forecast? How?

United States’ funding of health care

Geography

Current immigration issues and their possible solutions

Birth defects and their demographic implications

Impact of populations on tropical soils

What are the geographic dimensions of poverty in the United States? Why?

How can reference materials be helpful?• make it easy and quick to browse potential research projects.• point to other sources that are quotable.• provide basic background you should know.• offer ideas that can help you narrow down your topic and create a more interesting report/project/paper/speech, etc.• give keywords to increase searching efficiency & effectiveness in the databases.